Blog

To Be or Not to Be? Rugged without Regret

Aug 11, 2015

par Tom Kost

It doesn’t matter how much money you have to spend, no one wants to be
“that guy” that overpaid for a car, a TV, a vacation, or even a rugged tablet.

Sure, sometimes you are willing to pay a little more for better quality
if you’re confident that purchase is indeed the right option for you. But if
you are dropping money on something you think is right because it’s shinier or
more popular among your peers, then the odds of dissatisfaction rise two fold.
So does the price you pay for total cost of ownership if we’re talking about
investing in a non-rugged, consumer tablet when your field workers require true
rugged tablets.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting one should settle for less just
because it costs less upfront. Overestimating the capabilities of a cheaper
rugged case to protect your workers’ preferred iPad, for example, may seem like
the easy fix to making your workers rugged-ready in the field…and easy on the
pockets. But, the protection of a rugged case is temporary and so are those
cost savings. One wrong drop that the case can’t save you from and you’ll be
paying much more for the inevitable disappointment that results when you have
to deal with a device replacement, lost data and downtime.

So, as your workers increasingly break out of the soft cube walls into
the concrete jungle, how do you determine which mobile devices will be right
for them, and for your budget? How do you keep from being that guy that
inadvertently overpays for mobility in the end?

My colleague Bob Ashenbrenner and I recently had this very discussion
with several folks in the utility, manufacturing, distribution, government,
public safety and healthcare sectors during a
Field Technologies Online webinar we hosted. The key is to not put the cart before the
horse. You must decide first and foremost if your field workers need truly
rugged devices with a simple Stop, Drop and Roll evaluation:

Will
the device – and therefore critical work – STOP if the device were to DROP from
your workers’ hands or a forklift, for example, or if some water were to ROLL
onto the screen or into one of the ports?

If the answer is yes, then the reasons to go rugged are clear. You’ll
benefit from the external water and dust protection offered with rugged
devices’ higher IP ratings, the additional connectivity options found in
numerous external ports and the ability to view the screen in bright sunlight.
(How many times have you thought your smartphone was dead only to find that it
couldn’t be viewed in sunlight?)

But don’t forget that – as in everything in life – it’s not always
what’s on the outside that counts. You wouldn’t buy a car simply because of the
way it looks without giving any thought to its engine, horsepower, security,
handling and safety features. At least not if you wanted to ensure this car
would be right for the job long-term.

So while you know rugged is right for you, the only way to choose the
right rugged device (and spend your money wisely the first time) is to make a
decision from the inside out:

Operating
System:
Remember, this is a work-enabling device and software defines the
workflow. So always pick your software first. The tablet will then make the
software mobile.

Security:
“A stolen tablet, a compromised password, or an inappropriately downloaded
app can take down your entire network.” Protection of data only becomes more
paramount – and manageable – with mobile devices because they are more “out
there” and accessible by unintended users. Make sure your tablet offers
Computrace protection, two-factor authentication and access to secure data
networks that are constantly monitored.

Trust:
But verify that this OS, security and ruggedness level are indeed right for
you. Take the tablet for a test drive, or three. Best in class deployments
employ sandbox testing, then small and large pilots, before letting any mobile
solution loose on the open road.

MDM:
Today’s best-in-class field tech companies plan to never see these mobile
devices once in the field. Yours should too. But that means equipping your IT
department with an enterprise-grade MDM such as AirWatch, which allows the use
of one MDM for all workers and all of their work-related devices for
monitoring, repair, tracking, reporting and security.

If I’m being honest, appearance doesn’t matter if the tablet doesn’t
perform. And when it comes to creating and sustaining a truly mobile, fully
rugged workforce in today’s industrial or cleanroom environments, performance
is all that matters.

The only way to successfully become rugged without regret is to invest
in a product that’s rugged and ready for anything – and that means something
different to each customer as you can see from
many of the questions we fielded during the webinar. If you want to stand out in
customer service and operational performance without spending more money than
you should now or later, understand what others are doing but don’t obsess over
their experience. Focus on finding a solution that fits your individual flow –
workflow and daily flow – and that will adapt to your workers’ extreme job
environment as well as your evolving data environment as needed.

And, remember, once you choose to be rugged you still have to decide exactly
how rugged you need to be. One-size –
or should I say one-spec – does not fit all scenarios. But beware: While the “ratings” on rugged device
manufacturers’ spec sheets look awfully similar on the surface, the details
matter. You have to distinguish the subjective “rugged” messaging they’re
touting from the objective rugged measurements they should be certifying according
to Mil Spec 810G and IP rating guidelines.

The good news is that Xplore is always objective and what you see (such
as in our testing videos
here
and here and in the
spec sheet details) is what you will always get. Our certifications confirm our
rugged capacity without question. Our tablet and software customization
capabilities just make our leadership in rugged mobility as a whole that much
more impressive.

But stay tuned for our upcoming “Mil Spec Mythbusters” blog edition and
learn what rugged rating language really means, which acronyms and numbers you
should be paying attention to, and why there is so much fuss over rugged specs
in the first place. We’ll also reveal why Xplore really does have the right
rugged mobility platform for every extreme environment and every workflow you
need now – and those you don’t know you need yet
. In the meantime, find out how you should be “Righting the Ratings” when it comes to IP.

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